RtD14: Looking Back at Cyprus

I got my tickets for the both Semi-Finals, though couldn’t get a Grand Final ticket. Hope you were able to get yours! Hmm…the Road to Denmark just got a little more real. Onward to Cyprus!

Oh Cyprus – like Croatia, the tiny island has also decided to withdraw from next year’s Contest due to financial reasons. Again, a moment of silence…

Like Bulgaria, the Cypriot entries are all over the place – including one in French! However, their performances are much better and tend to be on the more tasteful side of things. Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

2007 – Comme Çi, Comme Ça – The ever-so-rare non-native language/non-English entry. This French-language number from Contest veteran Evridiki surprised many with this rock song. It was quite popular among the fans and seemed to make an impression on the audience, it even won an award from ESC Today for best song not to qualify for the Final. I think I agree with that choice.

2008 – Femme Fatale – A sexy song that’s a bit repetitive. The performance was a little over-the-top, but not bad. I think it finished about where it deserved. The song is entertaining, but nothing special.

2009 – Firefly – A sweet song written by a brother for his little sister. Unfortunately, what sweetness the song had was lost with Metaxa’s very shaky performance. Though, I think in a few years, she’ll be strong enough to try again and do a lot better her second time around. At 16, the Moscow stage was just a little too big for her.

2010 – Life Looks Better in Spring – Cyprus looked outside itself to Wales and offered the opportunity to lead a band of Cypriot songwriters to an up-and-coming singer they found on the small venue circuit in Britain. The song is great and had a chance to capitalize on the younger, singer-songwriter vibe. Unfortunately for Cyprus, Belgium beat them to the punch and outperformed Jon Lilygreen to outplace them.

2011 – San Angelos S’Agapisa – I don’t quite understand the point of this song – “I loved you like an angel.” The song is a poorly mashed together combination of folk ballad and rock. Granted, the marriage isn’t as poorly done as Slovenia 2010, but it could definitely be better.

2012 – La La Love – Cyprus surged to their best finish in years with this lively pop song. It’s so much fun and was amicably performed. Given its spot between the epic Icelandic entry and the hot mess that was France, one would think that it would have finished higher than 16th. It has left a legacy of commercial success and was the first time Cyprus outperformed big brother Greece in quite some time.

2013 – An Me Thimase– This is a truly beautiful entry, and it was performed so well. It’s powerful, it’s moving, it is a truly wonderful work of art. Sadly, it did not do as well as I think it should have. Even the English and Spanish versions are well done, which is a rarity for translated entries. Olympiou showed herself to be a force and I hope she returns.

Let’s Take a Closer Look At:Cyprus 2013. It seems that, no matter what Cyprus tries, pop, ballads, rock, indie, it cannot succeed. For as popular as La La Love was, it still only finished mid-table. Some blame the Greek language, as Cyprus has yet to qualify for the Final with a song in Greek, but, truly, songs have transcended their languages before. Essentially, 2008 was unremarkable, 2011 was a mess, and 2013 was considerably less enthralling than its competition. Cyprus needs to continue sending artful entries, like 2013, and begin to play with the song’s energy until they have a winning competition.